'Mozart was a political revolutionary'

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A quicksilver mind: Peter Sellars

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Sellar's production of Zaide has been accused of being too political

Peter Culshaw

12:01AM BST 03 Jul 2006

Controversial director Peter Sellars is exercising his talent for controversy with his new production of Mozart's unfinished opera, 'Zaide', which draws parallels with the current 'clash of civilisations'. He talks to Peter Culshaw

"Mozart was in fact one of Europe's leading intellectuals and one of the most intensely political artists in history," says the theatre and opera director. "Every single opera is a radical gesture of equality between the ruling class and the working class."

Sellars has a talent for controversy, and his latest production, an interpretation of Mozart's unfinished Zaide, which premièred in Vienna last month, is no exception.

When I suggest that there's not much evidence for Mozart's politics in his letters, for example, Sellars counters: "You have to remember that censorship was so intense, anyone who expressed revolutionary ideas or those that led to the French Revolution would be likely to be interrogated by the secret police."

Sellars's view of Mozart as a politically driven figure is, it must be said, a minority one. Phil Grabsky, who directed the TV film In Search of Mozart, told me he talked to nearly 100 Mozart specialists in the course of making the documentary and the consensus was that "to view Mozart as a political animal is to misread him".

But then Sellars has always tended to polarise critics and audiences, ever since a student production of King Lear featuring a Lincoln Continental that slowly fell apart in the course of the evening. Later he set Così fan tutte in a diner in Cape Cod, made Don Giovanni a cocaine-snorting slum thug, and had Figaro getting married in Trump Tower. At his best - Theodora at Glyndebourne, John Adams's Nixon in China - he has thrilled critics and audiences alike.

Zaide, which will be performed in a semi-staged production at the Barbican next week, was written when Mozart was 23. Set in a Turkish prison, the story follows a forbidden love affair between slaves who escape and are recaptured.

The musical score (in the Singspiel tradition, in which musical numbers are separated by stretches of spoken dialogue) was never finished - Mozart was writing it speculatively when a big commission came in for the opera Idomeneo. Later he complained that it was too serious for Viennese tastes, and the manuscript was left to gather dust until its rediscovery in the 19th century.

Sellars drafts in some of Mozart's incidental music from Thamos, King of Egypt and sets the opera in a New York sweatshop of illegal immigrants. He doesn't attempt to finish the piece, leaving open the question of whether there will be reconciliation in the end.

The theme of conflict or resolution between the Christian and Muslim worlds has rich contemporary resonances, which Sellars makes the most of. "Mozart was attempting to construct a musical and dramatic bridge between Europe and the Muslim world," he says, drawing a parallel with the current "clash of civilisations". We face a choice, he thinks: "Do we want compassion and to discover mutual truths, or have a fight to the death?"

A key element is an aria where one of the slaves pleads for equality and liberation. Just to make sure the audience gets the contemporary references, at the beginning of the evening there is a 20-minute discussion on stage about contemporary slavery and people-trafficking, conducted by representatives from the likes of Amnesty International.

For Sellars, "The music is so heartfelt and fierce in its intensity. It's written at a special moment for Mozart, who has a 23-year-old's determination to confront the world's biggest money-making operation at the time, which was slavery. Later Mozart found a middle way and found a delicate balance between seriousness and humour."

Even some of Sellars's supporters think he sometimes gets too political. His longtime collaborator John Adams, who thinks Sellars's "depth of understanding is mind-boggling", has complained that he is losing his sense of humour, while composer Osvaldo Golijov told me he objected to Sellars wanting to put American GIs from Iraq into the middle of Ainadamar, his new opera about the Spanish poet Lorca. (Golijov's version of events was "slightly exaggerated", says Sellars.)

Unsurprisingly, many critics hated the new production of Zaide. Variety complained that Sellars "takes advantage of Mozart's 250th birthday to bang us over the head with his message du jour: Slavery is bad". Its critic went on to suggest: "You may want to just make a contribution to the human rights charity of your choice, stay home and throw on a Mozart CD."

Sellars may dispute Peter Shaffer's portrait of Mozart in Amadeus, but it has been pointed out that Sellars himself shares that character's charisma and extraordinary iconoclastic energy.

Certainly, he has a quicksilver mind, coming up with a whirlwind of ideas. But there's no doubting his erudition and seriousness about music, and his belief that opera should reflect contemporary concerns.

In person, his passion and lack of cynicism are palpable - he is full of excitement at the programme he has assembled as artistic director of a major festival called New Crowned Hope (named after Mozart's Masonic lodge) to celebrate the composer's 250th anniversary.

It will dominate Vienna's cultural scene this autumn, and parts of it will come to London. Sellars has commissioned an impressive array of new music, notably from composers he has previously worked with, such as Adams, Golijov and Kaija Saariaho.

I ask him at one point whether he believes the age of the genius is dead. Not at all, he says. "John Adams is on a roll - I think you can put his recent pieces up against anything of Verdi, and the new Saariaho is breathtaking.

"She came to Zaide and said that in spite of all the problems in the world that were addressed, the music was a miracle. That's the way I feel. It's not about reducing music to politics, but elevating politics to music. I'm not providing answers, but creating a space to ask questions."

Best Sellars

Mozart Trilogy (1980s)This Sellars-directed trio of operas with texts by Da Ponte had Don Giovanni as a Big Maceating, coke-snorting slum thug, Così fan tutte set in a seaside diner run by a Vietnam veteran, and Figaro getting married in Trump Tower. Released as a set on DVD.

Nixon in China (1987)Sellars suggested the idea for this opera to composer John Adams, and it became his breakthrough piece. Currently revived at ENO, it portrays President Richard Nixon’s historic meeting with Chairman Mao in 1972.

Theodora (1996) Vintage Handel set in ancient Antioch had Roman legionaries in SWAT gear and singers Lorraine Hunt, Dawn Upshaw and David Daniels on top form.

El Niño (2000)Adams’s staged oratorio, a setting of the Nativity story among poor Chicanos of east Los Angeles, was accompanied by fi lmed elements featuring palm trees, fairy lights, and several different Marys.

L’Amour du Loin (2000)Debut opera by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with a text by Amin Malouf about a troubadour in love with a countess, had delicate instrumental colours, exotic harmonies and a stunning set.